Ian Griffiths lives in Ironbridge, and is a neighbour and friend of both the missing Tyler Powell and his grandmother, Dilys. He is also known as Griff.

We first hear Griffiths’ name from Dilys during a telephone conversation with Robin. She tells Robin that Tyler ‘took off’ and told Griff where he was going but not her. Robin asks if Griff is a friend of Tyler’s and Dilys says ‘he’s up the road’ (Chapter 27).  Robin finds an address for Ian Griffiths who lives opposite Tyler’s parents in Ironbridge (Chapter 33).

Strike and Robin meet in Ironbridge to speak to Dilys Powell. When they discover she is not at home they try Tyler’s parents’ house, and Griffiths spots them looking through the window.  Griffiths is described as ‘a short and extremely belligerent-looking man with longish dark hair’. ‘He was wearing a Steely Dan T-shirt and holding an acoustic guitar by the neck’ and ‘was slightly pigeon-toed’ (Chapter 66). Griffiths asks if they are ‘bloody press’ and Strike tells him they are private detectives. Robin notices that Griffiths ‘wasn’t much over five feet tall’ but he nevertheless faces up to Strike.

Griffiths invites them into his house to wait for Dilys to return. ‘He looked in his mid-forties; dark, with hazel eyes and a dimple in his chin, quite a handsome man’ (Chapter 66). Griffiths’ back garden is ‘full of whimsical sculptures, including a gargoyle’ and Strike notes that the interior of his house puts him in mind of student accommodation. It is ‘cluttered with kitschy objects that Strike mentally classed as ‘tat’’ such as ‘Day of the Dead figurines, snow globes filled with glitter, a Rastafarian teddy bear, scatter cushions in psychedelic patterns and a framed poster of Jesus smoking a joint’. ‘Candles had been stuck in empty wine bottles, ramshackle shelves held a combination of LPs and CDs and a keyboard and two more guitars stood in the corner’. However Strike notes that the place is basically clean (Chapter 66). 

Robin notices a framed photograph of a ‘pretty dark-haired woman in a tie-dye shirt and beaded necklace who had her arms around an equally pretty little girl’. There are more photographs of the same little girl. Griffiths says that his wife died of cancer and that his now grown-up daughter Chloe is away interrailing with her boyfriend. Griffiths tells them he is a piano and guitar teacher and also in a band that does ‘pubs and weddings and stuff’. He says he gave Tyler guitar lessons (Chapter 66).

Griffiths gives Robin and Strike some background on Tyler Powell and his relationships with other Ironbridge residents. He then spots Dilys in the street and goes out to bring her in to speak to the detectives (Chapter 66).